


Who Are We Without Our Armour?

by Zarius



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Doctor Who Magazine, Episode AU: s12e10 The Timeless Children, F/F, F/M, Post-Episode: s12e10 The Timeless Children, Spoilers, TARDIS Rooms, Team TARDIS, The Piggybackers, Thraz, thasmin, thraham - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:20:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23065372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zarius/pseuds/Zarius
Summary: Yaz and Ryan pay a rather blue Graham a house call (tag for "The Timeless Children")
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/Graham O'Brien, Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin Khan, Yasmin Khan & Graham O'Brien
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	Who Are We Without Our Armour?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Vgault](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vgault/gifts).



Yaz needed to go out for a coffee. In truth, she needed an excuse.

An excuse to leave her flat, an excuse not to open up to her family regarding things she couldn't hope to explain.

How do you go about telling them you'd walked amongst the ashes of a burning world? Or faced down an army of silver giants, once as human as she was, now converted into metallic monstrosities.

If she told them she felt abandoned by the friend who delivered them from a grizzlier fate, they would inquire as to what she meant and question the company she kept.

She should know, she found herself in the same shoes all by herself.

Where was she?

Where was The Doctor?

Why hadn't she come home yet to her fam? To her?

Yaz made her way to a local cafe and ordered a coffee, and from there, she made her journey back to the house that had landed in the neighbourhood a good stretch north of her. Plenty of time to drink the contents of the Styrofoam cup she held in her hands, letting the warm liquid sooth her innards and calms her thoughts.

She spotted Ryan Sinclair waiting outside the house; he approached her as soon as he set eyes on her.

"Hey, I haven't seen you all week, how are things?" he asked.

"I've taken it as well as you'd think. A few hours I'm angry, a couple I'm sad, half an hour of assuring myself everything's gonna be fine, few minutes I'm content and happy, thinking of all the good times, then it all loops back"

"Sounds likes you're coping" Ryan observed.

"And you aren't?" Yaz asked.

"I am, but I don't think Granddad is" Ryan said

"Can we see him?"

"Yeah, sure" Ryan said, escorting Yaz into the house.

Yaz was still awe-struck by the remarkable capabilities of these time and space vessels, all as big on the inside as the Doctor's own ship, with this one having the ability to blend into its surroundings more distinctly.

"This place has lasting supplies, machines that can replicate and dispense any kind of food or drink you want, proper relief facilities too, though Granddad got lost looking for it again, had to use the index file to pinpoint the toilet"

"So you mean to tell me he hasn't gone home yet?" Yaz asked.

Ryan shook his head.

"Right then, consider this more a welfare check than simply popping in on a friend" Yaz concluded.

"The TARDIS was our home for so many months, he's just used to travelling, it's like he's waiting to take off again, go and find her"

"Her? The Doctor?"

"Yeah" said Ryan.

"I can relate then, I wish we had the know-how to fly these contraptions"

"Would we need The Doctor if we could do any of that?"

"There will always be a need for a Doctor, she's the only one who can heal us when we're hurting" said Yaz.

Ryan stopped her dead in her tracks as his eyes locked onto his granddad Graham, seated in an armchair, clutching on to a photo, he was partially dozing off as he rocked back and forth. The soothing hum of the TARDIS console room the only thing causing him to ever so slightly stir back towards consciousness.

"Graham?" asked Ryan.

Graham's eyelids opened and came into focus as Yaz and Ryan approached him.

"Oh, come on in son, don't mind me, I'm just dozing off" he said, his voice trailing off rather nervously, he was also trying his best to wipe away a small tear.

"Hey, care for a love letter?" Yaz asked, smiling as she knelt down and put her right hand on his.

"I'm afraid it'll take something less simple to cheer me up this time Yaz" said Graham, twiddling his fingers anxiously.

Yaz handed him what was left of her coffee.

"Here, drink up" she said.

Graham took the cup and nodded.

"Thanks luv" he said, and took a small sip. He leaned back in the chair and showed Yaz the photo he was looking at. A shot of him and The Doctor seated next to each other in a diner, both visibly enjoying the other's company.

"That was taken during our visit to the period in time where the Cuban missile crisis occurred" Yaz replied

"I remember taking that photo on my Smartphone; didn't the Doctor get a little annoyed with you in there?" Ryan asked

"Oh I was just teasing her about how reliable our 'car' often was, that's all. I had my heart set on visiting New Asguard that day, but then we had that visit from the psychic squid and it messed with the navi-system. She still thought where we landed was a nice enough spot, she asked me if I thought the same. Probably should have said 'yes', but nah, I had to have a bloody cheek"

"You don't tease someone you don't like" said Yaz.

"I know it's silly of me, that it's only been a week and that there's still time for her to come back, all smiles, that boundless spring in her step, but a week of doing nothing but wait causes all the old thoughts to come flooding back, all the basic concerns of home. Our mental state, my apprehensions about my cancer. Out there in space and time, we all had armour. What are we without it? Without her?"

Yaz gave him a loving look, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a tender hug.

"I ask myself the same thing, if I had to sum this all up in a Yorkshire letter again, I'd just say we need to learn how to cope together, learn to be comfortable within our own skin"

Graham permitted himself the first proper expression of elation he'd had all week.

"That's what we'll do then; we may not have The Doc with us in person, but what we all do together will bind us to her spirit for as long as it takes for her to get back"

Yaz leaned back and straightened up, taking Graham's hands and lifting him out of the chair.

"They'll come a time where we can't ride the wave anymore, but not today. If the tide chooses to wash over you, just stand still, otherwise you'll just get carried away. The Doctor would want us to always be the same people she knew and loved. They'll be times we feel anger, times we feel sad, but we have to focus on making the positive times last longer. Who we are without armour are warriors of the heart and mind, fighting battles that take us inward, and we can only triumph when we make an emotional break through, that's when all the wounds heal. Travelling with the Doctor means everything travels with us, as does how we cope with the luggage"

"Now that was more a Yorkshire novel than a love letter" joked Graham.

Yaz laughed.

"Come on mate; we've got work to do"

"Yeah, be with you in a minute" said Graham.

As Yaz and Ryan left the interior of the TARDIS and headed outside, Graham walked over to the console and flicked a couple of switches.

The TARDIS data bank lit up on one of the monitors hanging above him reading **FLIGHT INSTRUCTIONS...PART THREE**

"Can't wait 'till you get a whiff of this new car smell Doc" he said, chuckling as he kissed the photo in his hand.

**Author's Note:**

> I thought I'd give the ol' Thasmin thing a bit of a subtle shot, while also hinting at my usual pairing of Thraham...perhaps there's also a bit of 'Thraz' in there too if you look deep enough. The cuban crisis stuff all comes from a legit source, the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip 'The Piggybackers'.


End file.
